Looks and Touches: Week 3

The following is a list of the Week 3 leaders in looks and touches. It defines those running backs and receivers who received the most attention this past weekend.

Touches is defined as the number of times a running back carried or caught the football.Looks is defined as the number of times a player was the intended target of a pass.

TOUCHES • Steven Jackson finally got things going in Week 3 – thanks to a league-high 34 touches (30 carries, four receptions). With that said, Jackson did "only" finish seventh in total yards for the week, with 133 (115 rushing, 18 receiving), and he still has yet to score his first TD of the season. Oh yeah, and Jackson will be sidelined for at least a week or two with a groin strain/tear.

• The Giants went to Derrick Ward early and often in Week 3, and he ended up with 120 yards of offense (94 rushing, 26 receiving) on his 32 touches (26 carries, six catches). He's posted solid but unspectacular numbers filling in for the injured Brandon Jacobs, and should figure in the mix even when Jacobs returns.

• Deep draft-day discount LaMont Jordan continues to get the job done for his fantasy owners. He finished third among RB in both touches (31 – 29 carries, two catches) and yards (153 – 121 rushing, 32 receiving) in Week 3 and, on the season, is the league leader in touches (80 – 69 carries, 11 receptions), and is second in yardage (471 – 350 rushing, 121 receiving). Through the season's first three games, Jordan has scored as many TDs (2) as Steven Jackson, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Larry Johnson combined.

• LaDainian Tomlinson has faced three stout defenses thus far, and it shows in his numbers – among players with at least ten touches on the season, LT2 has averaged the lowest yards per touch (3.23). He produced 95 yards of offense (62 rushing, 33 receiving) on his 25 touches (22 carries, three receptions) in Week 3, good for 3.8 yards per touch, so he actually improved his numbers this past week.

• Brian Westbrook had one of his trademark games in Week 3, and he led all players with at least 10 touches in yards per touch. He put together a league-high 221 yards (110 rushing, 111 receiving) on 19 touches (14 carries, five catches), a 11.63-yard average. Larry Johnson had as unproductive of a week as was humanly possible, given his 25 touches (24 carries, one reception) – he totaled just 37 yards of offense (42 rushing, -5 receiving), 1.48-yard average.

LOOKS • Carson Palmer is leaning on T.J. Houshmandzadeh pretty heavily thus far – Housh not only led the league in looks for Week 3 (18), but his 45 looks and 29 catches after three games on the season both lead the league, as well. It's not that Palmer is ignoring Chad Johnson, either – CJ is second in the league in looks (40), third in catches (25), and first in receiving yards (442).

• Last week I mentioned that Donovan McNabb had gotten off to a slow start with his WRs. He picked up the pace a bit in Week 3, at least when it came to his WR2. Curtis appeared to be largely ignored by the Detroit defense in Week 3, and he converted 14 looks from McNabb into 11 catches for 221 yards and 3 TD. WR1 Reggie Brown had two catches for 23 yards on two looks.

• Veteran Derrick Mason – and most notably not popular sleeper favorite Mark Clayton – has started the season off in fine fashion. Mason has had at least 12 looks and seven receptions in each of the season's first three weeks.

• Muhsin Muhammad may agree with a solid contingent of Bears fans who would like to see a change at QB. He had just two catches on 10 looks in Week 3, and, on the season, he has four catches on 18 looks, a 22 percent catch rate.